15th of July 2024 - Château Royal de Cazeneuve and Sauternes

The French region of Cadillac is known for its deliciously flavoured dessert wines including Sauternes.  Sauternes wine is made from Sémillon, sauvignon blanc, and muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot.  This causes the grapes to become partially like raisins, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavoured wines.  Due to its climate, Sauternes is one of the few wine regions where infection with noble rot is a frequent occurrence.  Wines from Sauternes, especially the Premier Cru Supérieur estate Château d'Yquem.  Sauterne wines can be very expensive, largely due to the very high cost of production.

Our day started with a coach drive though the region passing the vineyards of a number of wine producing châteaux including Château d'Yquem pictured below (please excuse the blurred photos, they were taken from a moving coach).

 

We visited Château Royal de Cazeneuve, a polygonal 14th-century fortress with a royal pedigree.  This was a favoured residence of King Henri IV of France who inherited it from his mother, Jeanne d’Albret. The beautifully restored château still belongs to descendants of the Albret family.  We were not allowed to take photos inside the château though of course could do so outside.

 

At the end of the visit we had the chance to sample a glass of Sauternes from the Château Royal de Cazeneuve which was very enjoyable.  The Sauternes went particularly well with dark chocolate covered raisins.

 

French wine producers are facing several significant challenges due to climate change.  A particular challenge is compliance with the French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) regulations making wine production more complex and costly.  The AOC regulations specify which grapes can be used so the wine producers would lose their AOC label if they used grapes more suited to the changing climate.

In the afternoon, back on the ship, I went to a wine tasting led by the ship's sommelier.  The three wines included a Rhône valley white, a red Bordeaux and a Sauternes.  I particularly enjoyed the red wine which was a Pomerol costing a mere €150 a bottle.  This is probably the most expensive wine that I have every tasted.